BOY HOWDY: THE STORY OF CREEM MAGAZINE
(The 2019 Maryland Film Festival ran May 8-12 in Baltimore, Maryland. Like what you see here on Hammer to Nail? Why not pay just $1.00 per month via Patreon to help keep us going?)
As any decent documentary should strive to do, I slapped my forehead for somehow denying myself from learning about the unrestrained and rogue nature of the first rock ‘n roll magazine Creem in Scott Crawford’s Boy Howdy: The Story of Creem Magazine.
Scott Crawford recounts the origins of the unorthodox magazine through insightful and funny testimonials of the original creators and the more than opinionated and counter-culture youths that filled the writers’ room.
The documentary highlights the cherished memories told by the writers of Creem and its fans like Alice Cooper and Joan Jett in overly simplistic but strangely perfect animated shorts. The people Crawford interviews are colorful enough that they don’t need animation sequences, but it’s a luxury that’s not unwelcomed.
Boy Howdy tries to cram every conceivable facet of the Creem magazine story in an hour and 15-minute runtime. The result is an entertaining but blasé watch that fails to tell the end of Creem magazine with the emotional punch that it deserves. The stories are great and warrant their own documentaries, but for now, Boy Howdy is a serviceable introduction to the myth. The legend. Creem magazine.
– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)
Like what you see here on Hammer to Nail? Why not pay just $1.00 per month via Patreon to help keep us going?